Exotic fruit appreciation thread

[swords]

I like trying new stuff and lately I've been on a new fruit trying kick.

Today I ate a few sections of an Ugli fruit and half of a Pomelo. Gonna make a scallop marinate recipe I found with the rest of the Ugli fruit but I like the Pomelo a lot and will eat the rest tomorrow. The only thing I don't like is the labor intensive picking the flesh out of the membrane since you can't eat the membranes of either of these.

At the grocery store tonight I picked up a Star Fruit to try soon.

Gonna go to the Asian market on my day off and see what kinda exotic fruits they have this time of year. Might even get a Durian! I've tasted it at work but never had one stinking up my house!

What are some of you guy's fave exotic fruits? Which did you not like and why?

 

[Clue]

I didn't like durian at all. >.>

Rambutans are nice, if not expensive.

 

[kulamauiman]

longan, lychee, cherymoya. mangosteen was good also.

 

[seedjar]

Mmmm, pumelos are my favorite. They're a great finger food - I love peeling and sectioning them. It's like a snack and a workout for my hands.
I'm not especially fond of mangoes or papayas. When I was young I lived in Panama, and we had mango and papaya trees on our street. After smelling piles of rotting mango and papaya for weeks at a time every other season, I find the scent even of the fresh fruits to be a little too much for me.
~Joe

 

[rattler]

not that exotic but im a fan of blood oranges.........buffaloberries are a native for me but guessing most never had them, they make my favorite jelly in the world......

 

[Brokken]

I like Inga paterna:

Known as 'paterna' in Central America and 'cushin' elsewhere. You can also eat the 'seeds' after you boil them:

http://www.fotopedia.com/wiki/Inga

 

[seedjar]

Another one I just thought of is yangmei/yamamomo - the Chinese Bayberry/Chinese Strawberry Tree. We had one outside our apartment when I lived in Monterey and the landlady called it a "gugi tree." The fruit was a little bland but the spiny skin is really interesting. I understand now that well-cared for trees actually produce very sweet and tart fruit. It was also a really good climbing tree, as the branches tend to twine around each other and form lots of natural handholds. I fell out of that tree several times. XD
~Joe

 

[Dexenthes]

Great idea for a thread! I LOVE fruit of all kinds, any kind of fruit as long as it's not poisonous and tasteless is a good fruit in my opinion. Unfortunately I haven't had many chances to travel to the tropics and experience real fresh exotic fruit.

However, I have tried some things in my day.

I really like ugli fruit, probably my favorite citrus. Pummelo are terrific too, but as you said a bit labor intensive.

I personally am a huge fan of guava. But also, Sapote are delicious as well. Dragonfruit is really good, and expensive. I really would like to grow a dragonfruit. But passion fruit are perhaps my favorite Safeway exotic fruit.

Not so exotic, but persimmons are one of my very favorite fruit, doesn't matter what kind.

Though, the best fruit is found where it grows originally, and none of these fruit grow here.

There are some quasi-exotic berries that grow in my local area, and so far they are my favorite because of how delicious they can be as well as how fresh they are when picked straight from a wild plant in the middle of a Carnivorous plant-filled sphagnum bog!

My favorite exotic native berries:

#1 - Cloudberry - defies words!

#2 - Bog Blueberry - so wild tasting, and so elusive.

#3 - Dwarf Blueberry - The most amazing blueberry I've eaten to date. Even more elusive than Bog Blueberry

#4 - High-Bush cranberry. Better work your mouth out before you eat these!

#5 - I would say Dwarf Nagoon berry, because I have a feeling they are the most delicious wild berries there are, but I have yet to find one in season. I've only found them on the peaks of mountains and the mountain season are so fleeting that I have yet to make it around the right time to experience a ripe berry.

 

[kahnli]

I've been on a mangosteen kick myself. I recently did an amuse bouche tasting with a mangosteen and pomegranate gazpacho finished with a mint marscapone. In 2007 they lifted the ban on them in the U.S. so they are a little easier to find now. I made a salad dressing with them at the restaurant a while back that I dubbed "The Bride of Mangosteen" which was pretty tasty.
pomelos are great but as swords said can be a little labor intensive. I find scoring and segmenting the easiest way to get at these beasts.

 

[emre]

Kumquats + vodka = epic win

 

[Exo]

blood oranges, Figs, Goji berries, dragon fruit, passion fruit, guava, and mangoes....those are my favorites in no particular order.

 

[rattler]

#5 - I would say Dwarf Nagoon berry, because I have a feeling they are the most delicious wild berries there are, but I have yet to find one in season. I've only found them on the peaks of mountains and the mountain season are so fleeting that I have yet to make it around the right time to experience a ripe berry.

i have nagoons crossed with a similar swedish raspberry out in the yard......seems our summers get hot to quick and they shut down before flowering......hoping on a cool summer one of these years so i can try them......

 

[Dexenthes]

i have nagoons crossed with a similar swedish raspberry out in the yard......seems our summers get hot to quick and they shut down before flowering......hoping on a cool summer one of these years so i can try them......

That's too bad. From what I've read they are also referred to as the arctic raspberry, so they might not be fond of warmness of any kind. I know up on the mountain where they live it probably doesn't get over 70 for more than 20 or so days all year.

Also, I've heard that they are much more common the further north you go. They're pretty rare even where I live!

 

[rattler]

they grow fine for me in the semi shade and shrug off 100* temps but ive read they shut down flower production if it gets to warm and thats what ive seen......

 

[carnivoure12]

Well I'va had a lot, and I've liked them all:

Guava
Guyabana
Dragon fruit (well not so much)
Solanum quitoense / Lulo/Naranjilla
Blood orange
White Orange
Cherymoya
Tamarillo
Zapote
A special type of passion fruit
Mango
Pomelo
Zapote
Goldenberries
Granadilla
Maracuya
That one that brokken posted

And more i can't remember

 

[Woodnative]

Cherimoyas are the best!!